The panels are oriented portrait-style and interspersed with bars of music. V plays “The Vicious Cabaret” on piano. The content of the lyrics corresponds to the illustrations in the background: Rosemary gets news of Almond’s death, Finch stares out of a window, the Leader reaches toward the Fate supercomputer, and Evey decides to follow V into the “land of doing-as-you-please” (91).

On January 5, 1998, in the Shadow Gallery, Evey asks V why he has never tried to sleep with her. V says maybe he’s Evey’s father. He says he has a surprise for her and tells her to put on a blindfold. As he leads her out of the Shadow Gallery, snippets of their previous conversations play, perturbing Evey. He tells Evey that he is not her father—her father is dead—and he vanishes, leaving Evey alone.

Rosemary attends Almond’s funeral and notices that neither she nor any of Almond’s acquaintances liked him. She feels alone and vulnerable regardless. She decides to accept Dascombe’s advances even though he disgusts her. As Rosemary talks about how she will navigate life after her husband’s death, the illustrations depict V breaking into a media studio on February 23.